Unfortunately things aren’t getting better! At 2.30pm and only 13 kilometres from our destination (yes, there was a sign!), the rear tyre went flat. We’d been making really good time and things seemed to be going well, although we still had the clunking noise and French road signs aren’t always the most helpful so there was at least one major wrong turn. Suddenly the bike felt wiggly, we pulled over, and found the flat. Xander was able to get the bike over to a nearby pullout, where he had to change the tyre and repair the tube once again. We had a chance to learn some new French words when a nearby farmer, whose access road we’d stopped on, came to see what was happening! I have to note that no-one else stopped to help - though there were a few waves from other motorbikers, no-one actually slowed down and even a 4WD sporting a Horizons Unlimited sticker completely passed us by! So much for brotherhood to fellow travellers. A few people even honked loudly as if we were some sort of roadside attraction! Not that we needed help or were looking for it, it would have been nice if people had made a bit more effort to see that we were OK. The whole process took about an hour in scorching heat, and we were definitely ready to stop once we reached our destination, Monistrol d’Allier, located in a beautiful valley (not the mountains I was expecting) and with the Allier River right next to the campground. Xander spent some more time trying to work out where the clunking noise is coming from, then we went swimming in the river in the stunning evening heat. We talked about how we’re feeling about the trip, and I admitted I’ve been feeling like it’s all going wrong and I don’t know how we’re going to get through 2 years of this. Xander admitted some of the same feelings. We’ve been saying all along that we have to make sure we slow down and see things more slowly than we normally do (i.e. don’t try to see all of a country in 2 weeks as is our normal pattern), but we already seemed to be pushing on instead of enjoying ourselves. Part of the problem is the little piece on France from our 10-year-old Europe Lonely Planet guidebook does not give great detail for the whole country and we don’t really know what to see or do or even where to go. So we’ll stay here for at least 2 nights, which will give us a chance to relax, have a look around for the werewolves, and also see if we can work out what’s wrong with the bike. The evening provided a fantastic show of at least a dozen small bats, the most we’ve seen since
leaving home and the only ones we’ve seen since reaching Europe. I’m not exactly surprised there were so many (and again as I write tonight) – there are so many bugs here!!! France has been incredible for insects, we’re camped next to another butterfly-laden buddleia bush with a nearby patch of lavender also a big attraction for them – I counted at least 14 species of butterflies and moths yesterday, including lots of swallowtails. I’ve now seen 5 of the coolest moth ever, the hummingbird hawk-moth, which I’ve only seen once before – this mid-sized moth acts just like a hummingbird as it hovers to drink nectar from flowers. On the bad side, it’s crawling with ants here and we constantly have to flick them off the tent (providing Xander with great amounts of amusement and musing on the thought patterns of insects……weeeeeeeeee……)
Today we woke to find the rear tyre had deflated again. Instead of repairing it again, Xander tried to put on the spare tube, only to find it was also punctured! Once repaired he then found it was the wrong size!!! Somehow he’d been sent the wrong part when it was ordered over a year ago for our Romania trip and it’s not the sort of thing you know till both parts are there in front of you. So he found there was another hole in the original tube, and the repairs on that one seem to be holding so far (cross fingers!). After feeling really despondent about how things are going and the fact that the weather was not so good this morning (even rained a little), we were on the edge of just sitting in the tent all day! However, we decided the bike needed a run to seat the tyre again and our friendly New Zealander neighbours, who are walking hefty parts of the Pilgrim Route of St Jacques de Compostelle (also Camino de Santiago, which we travelled parts of through northern
Spain 2 years ago, and I’m hoping to visit Santiago de Compostella in Spain, which is the end point of the route, before we go to Portugal) and live here in France for half the year (oh to be retired!!), told us there was a museum dedicated to la Bete du Gevaudan nearby in Sauges. It turns out the region’s legend is about the Beast, not a werewolf but a large wolf, that attacked 82 people between 1764 and 1767, and it has become the legend for towns in this area (Gevaudan). We skipped the museum but are on the hunt for sculptures of la Bete, having already found two large wooden chainsaw-cut ones in and around Sauges. Unfortunately, the really neat metal sculpture of la Bete from Monistrol is currently away on exhibition elsewhere (just our luck!), but there is one other to visit in a small town called Auvers, which also has a museum on la Bete. We’re planning on staying another day or two here, to look around but also with the bike still having issues and Xander having no idea what is causing the problem, we figure it might be best to take things easy.
Unfortunately things aren’t getting better! At 2.30pm and only 13 kilometres from our destination (yes, there was a sign!), the rear tyre went flat. We’d been making really good time and things seemed to be going well, although we still had the clunking noise and French road signs aren’t always the most helpful so there was at least one major wrong turn. Suddenly the bike felt wiggly, we pulled over, and found the flat. Xander was able to get the bike over to a nearby pullout, where he had to change the tyre and repair the tube once again. We had a chance to learn some new French words when a nearby farmer, whose access road we’d stopped on, came to see what was happening! I have to note that no-one else stopped to help - though there were a few waves from other motorbikers, no-one actually slowed down and even a 4WD sporting a Horizons Unlimited sticker completely passed us by! So much for brotherhood to fellow travellers. A few people even honked loudly as if we were some sort of roadside attraction! Not that we needed help or were looking for it, it would have been nice if people had made a bit more effort to see that we were OK. The whole process took about an hour in scorching heat, and we were definitely ready to stop once we reached our destination, Monistrol d’Allier, located in a beautiful valley (not the mountains I was expecting) and with the Allier River right next to the campground. Xander spent some more time trying to work out where the clunking noise is coming from, then we went swimming in the river in the stunning evening heat. We talked about how we’re feeling about the trip, and I admitted I’ve been feeling like it’s all going wrong and I don’t know how we’re going to get through 2 years of this. Xander admitted some of the same feelings. We’ve been saying all along that we have to make sure we slow down and see things more slowly than we normally do (i.e. don’t try to see all of a country in 2 weeks as is our normal pattern), but we already seemed to be pushing on instead of enjoying ourselves. Part of the problem is the little piece on France from our 10-year-old Europe Lonely Planet guidebook does not give great detail for the whole country and we don’t really know what to see or do or even where to go. So we’ll stay here for at least 2 nights, which will give us a chance to relax, have a look around for the werewolves, and also see if we can work out what’s wrong with the bike. The evening provided a fantastic show of at least a dozen small bats, the most we’ve seen since 
leaving home and the only ones we’ve seen since reaching Europe. I’m not exactly surprised there were so many (and again as I write tonight) – there are so many bugs here!!! France has been incredible for insects, we’re camped next to another butterfly-laden buddleia bush with a nearby patch of lavender also a big attraction for them – I counted at least 14 species of butterflies and moths yesterday, including lots of swallowtails. I’ve now seen 5 of the coolest moth ever, the hummingbird hawk-moth, which I’ve only seen once before – this mid-sized moth acts just like a hummingbird as it hovers to drink nectar from flowers. On the bad side, it’s crawling with ants here and we constantly have to flick them off the tent (providing Xander with great amounts of amusement and musing on the thought patterns of insects……weeeeeeeeee……)
Today we woke to find the rear tyre had deflated again. Instead of repairing it again, Xander tried to put on the spare tube, only to find it was also punctured! Once repaired he then found it was the wrong size!!! Somehow he’d been sent the wrong part when it was ordered over a year ago for our Romania trip and it’s not the sort of thing you know till both parts are there in front of you. So he found there was another hole in the original tube, and the repairs on that one seem to be holding so far (cross fingers!). After feeling really despondent about how things are going and the fact that the weather was not so good this morning (even rained a little), we were on the edge of just sitting in the tent all day! However, we decided the bike needed a run to seat the tyre again and our friendly New Zealander neighbours, who are walking hefty parts of the Pilgrim Route of St Jacques de Compostelle (also Camino de Santiago, which we travelled parts of through northern 
Spain 2 years ago, and I’m hoping to visit Santiago de Compostella in Spain, which is the end point of the route, before we go to Portugal) and live here in France for half the year (oh to be retired!!), told us there was a museum dedicated to la Bete du Gevaudan nearby in Sauges. It turns out the region’s legend is about the Beast, not a werewolf but a large wolf, that attacked 82 people between 1764 and 1767, and it has become the legend for towns in this area (Gevaudan). We skipped the museum but are on the hunt for sculptures of la Bete, having already found two large wooden chainsaw-cut ones in and around Sauges. Unfortunately, the really neat metal sculpture of la Bete from Monistrol is currently away on exhibition elsewhere (just our luck!), but there is one other to visit in a small town called Auvers, which also has a museum on la Bete. We’re planning on staying another day or two here, to look around but also with the bike still having issues and Xander having no idea what is causing the problem, we figure it might be best to take things easy.
